Garden Earwig Infestation?

[Idmon]

Hi! I seldom see earwigs in the garden (Yorkshire,England) but recently it seems to be infested with them, within around 30 seconds of collecting I got over 20, of varying sizes. I presume they are breeding?

I am very certain they are Forficula Auricularia (Common Earwig), as there isn’t much margin for error in England (we only have like 3 species ).

Was wondering if anyone has any ideas as to why there are so many, and whether keeping them in captivity is a possibility?

 

[The Snark]

One person in N. California had a significant infestation in his veggie garden. Tens of thousands. He made 'earwig hotels'. A pair of 4" by 4" boards nailed together with an 1/16th to 1/8th inch gap between them. He placed about 20 of these in the dirt in his garden and the animals would use them, that gap, for hides. Then every morning he would submerge the traps in water, replacing them with a cleaned out 20. Going through this cycle for about 3 weeks he reduced the population down to an occasional one found every day or so.

 

[Idmon]

I actually found them within the ridges of some old wooden boards, so the trap idea is a good one. It has also only recently dawned on me that they are all directly below the bird feeders, amongst the fallen seeds (I doubt that is a coincidence). At the moment they are nowhere near any vegetables so I reckon I will just leave them, and occasionally monitor their numbers. I actually think they are pretty cool... in a strange sort of way.

I will pass the idea onto my father, should he start finding a mass of them in his vegetables (he gets very protective).

Thank you